The U.S. Navy seeks a partner for licensing and collaboration on a non-volatile floating gate charge storage device for use in random pattern creation, trusted supply chain applications, and pattern identifier creation and detection.

In the fields of trusted electronics, trusted supply chain management, data storage, and communication systems, users are concerned about security and ensuring their devices have not been tampered with. Devices that are currently used to ensure security include anti-tampering devices, unique identification devices, random number generators, and cryptographic devices. However, there continues to be a need for a new capability or functions associated with creation of a trusted electronics or trusted supply chain solutions such as devices with irreproducible or a physically uncloneable identification scheme or function. In other words, an aspect of an embodiment of the invention provides a function or effect to be generated that does not allow an unauthorized user to physically clone, copy, or reproduce an original structure manufactured in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

NSWC Crane has developed and patented an irreproducible and re-emergent unique structure or pattern identifier manufacturing and detection method. A non-volatile floating gate charge storage device includes a block of floating gate transistors that can include a semiconductor region, a source region, a drain region, a floating gate region, a tunnel oxide region, an oxide-nitrite-oxide region, and a control gate region. A structure altering stress effect is applied to the block of transistors to create a passage region in a random number of floating gate regions of floating gate transistors which changes charge storage or electrical characteristics of random elements of the block of transistors. The passage region alters changes on a floating gate region to escape in a different manner than per-alteration form causing the floating gate region to lose its charge. The patent also includes a design for an apparatus able to record and detect such differences in pre and post alteration.